Chief Warrant Officer Jason LaCrosse bereitet seinen UH-60 „Black Hawk“ MedEvac-Helikopter auf den Start vor. Foto: Privat/LaCrosse
"Good Friday MEDEVAC" - Erinnerungen eines US-Piloten ans Karfreitagsgefecht
Wesentlichen Anteil am Verlauf des Karfreitagsgefechts hatten auch die amerikanischen Soldaten, die mit ihren „Black Hawk“-Hubschraubern den deutschen Kameraden zu Hilfe kamen. Als Chef des Teams war Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason LaCrosse an Bord dabei. Für unser Verbandsmagazin erinnert er sich an die dramatischen Stunden (hier der übersetzte Text). Der originale Text des Piloten:
On 2 April 2010, Golf platoon of the 3d Company of the German Army's Parachute Battalion 373 was conducting operations in the town of Isa Kehl when over 200 Taliban Insurgents ambushed them. During the intense firefight, two German soldiers had been seriously wounded, and they needed immediate medical evacuation.
While the battle was raging on (without our knowledge), myself (CW3 Jason LaCrosse) and CW2 Jason Brown were sitting in our living quarters talking about the famous German WWII ace Erich Hartmann and how we wished we could have had the chance to meet a pilot of that stature, when CPT Mathias Hoffman came to our door telling us about a battle that was going on in Isa Khel and that German soldiers had been injured. I asked CPT. Hoffman why we hadn’t been alerted or told to launch? He didn’t know the answer but was going to go to the Operations center and fight for us to go.
About five minutes later CPT. Hoffman came back and told us we were a GO for launch. As an Instructor pilot I had been designated as commander of the team's air missions for that day. After receiving the initial medevac request my crew of DUSTOFF 87 (DO-87), which included pilot CW2 Jason Brown, medic SSG Travis Brown, and crew chief SGT Steven Shumaker, ran to our helicopter and got ready for takeoff. Our escort gun ship call sign Black Magic-70, was crewed by pilots CW2 Sean Johnson, CW2 Eric Wells and crew chiefs SGT William Ebel, and SGT Todd Marchese.
After we took off, the helicopters approached the location of Golf platoon in just a few minutes. Upon our arrival, I directed the crew of BM-70 to fly ahead to establish contact with the ground force and determine if the Landing Zone (LZ) was clear. Both of our aircraft tuned our radios to the frequencies that had been given to us for the German platoon, but we we were not able to establish communications using it. I then directed BM-70 to circle over the designated landing zone, while CW2 Brown prepared to land DO-87. As we made our approach to the designated LZ our helicopter came under intense enemy attack using machine guns, RPG’s, and mortars.
I told CW2 Brown to abort the approach, and we flew the aircraft to a safer location to consider another plan. As Brown was maneuvering our aircraft to avoid the serious threat, we spotted a German soldier standing in a field to the north trying to signal us with a white smoke grenade. We landed to speak with him to try and establish comms and to figure out where the injured soldiers were.
After speaking with the German soldier we crew learned the patients were at a different location. Concerned that the situation was very dangerous and unsure of the location of the wounded personnel, I ordered Brown to take off again and loiter in a safe area until the crew could make contact with the ground force. After both of our crews made repeated unsuccessful attempts to contact the ground force by radio, I told CW2 Brown to go back to the LZ we had just landed at, CW2 Brown landed DO-87 once more so we could speak with the German soldiers and ask their help to locate the wounded.
After landing SSG Brown ran up hill 352 to talk with the German soldier to try and establish comms, while on the ground a civilian started to approach the aircraft from behind.
SGT Shumaker notified me of the threat, I then told Shumaker to wave him off, after numerous attempts the man kept coming towards the helicopter. I radioed BM-70 to do a low fly by to deter the man from approaching the acft, as they did the man stopped.
As soon as BM-70 flew off the man started to approach again, I then ordered Shumaker to fire a warning shot, which he did and the man still kept coming, Shumaker fired 3 more shots towards the man who would not stop.
Hearing and seeing what was going on SSG Brown ran down the hill and dove into the helicopter, as he did this the Afghan National Police looked over to see the man approaching, they ran over tackled him and “effectively suppressed” the man.
I then ordered CW2 Brown to take off and go back and loiter.
SSG Brown notified us that there still wasn’t any frequencies for the ground troops available ((later we found out them an that was tackled was an enemy soldier). Fortunately the crew of DO-84 had been monitoring the radios of both DO-87 and BM-70 from Kunduz, CW3 Nelson Visaya received the correct frequency being used by the joint tactical air controller (JTAC) to contact Golf platoon. He passed this information to me, and I then directed both crews to tune their radios to that frequency, and we immediately made contact with the JTAC, who was using the call sign "Red Baron."
Red Baron, who was helping to coordinate F-15 and F-16 airstrikes, informed me that the Germans believed that the current landing zone, where we had been unable to land earlier, remained too dangerous for us to use and that they could move the wounded to a secondary landing zone. I then told Red Baron that I did not want to wait for the wounded to be moved and that the LZ was cold enough for me and announced that DO-87 would land at the current landing zone. So the German detachment prepared its wounded men for pickup as Brown began a new approach to the hot LZ.
As our helicopter made its approach, the enemy forces shifted their fire from the German forces to my aircraft. Two RPG’s crossed just below the belly of our helicopter, and the ground forces could see sparks flying off of the hull from ricocheting bullets.
As we continued our approach we continuously took fire, this enabled the Germans to spot the enemy and smother them with counter fire, effectively shifting the momentum of the battle. In addition, BM-70 used its guns to attack enemy elements as it circled above the LZ. As my crew landed safely on the ground, Sergeant Brown, the medic, dismounted and quickly helped to load the first critically wounded soldier. As soon as the patient was strapped in and Sergeant Brown was back aboard, we lifted off and, accompanied by BM-70, headed for Kunduz.
Landing at Kunduz, my crew quickly unloaded the patient and took off to return to the landing zone for more casualties. Landing a second time as, once again, the German patrol and BM-70 delivered suppressive fire against the enemy fighters. While on the ground during the second landing I noticed flashes coming from the tree line, I then looked over to notice three individuals in the tree line to the right of my helicopter, I asked Shumaker to look through his scope and see if those were enemy personnel in the tree line, as he looked he confirmed they were enemy.
The rounds from their machine guns were kicking up dirt around Shumakers feet, I then called BM-70 and notified them of the situation and BM-70 flew low over the top of us towards the tree line and as they did SGT Ebel let loose on the machine gun taking out the three enemy personnel. As they flew over the tree tops toward an open field to turn around an enemy soldier stood up in the field to shoot at BM-70, but before he could get a shot off SPC Marchese got him first. My crew recovered another wounded German soldier and flew him to Kunduz.
While enroute to drop off the second casualty Red Baron notified me that an improvised explosive device (IED) had just detonated at Isa Khel, wounding four more German soldiers. Knowing the number of casualties I knew I would need the other DUSTOFF crew to launch with me, so I called operations and directed that the crew of DO-84, consisting of CPT McDonough, fellow pilot CW3 Nelson Visaya, medic SGT Antonio Gattis, and crew chief SPC Matthew Baker, prepare for takeoff to support.
When they were ready, all three of our aircraft lifted off and flew back to the battle. My helicopter and BM-70 flew back to the same LZ to prepare for landing, but red baron said they were not ready for pick up, while circling a white car with 4 individuals inside started shooting at us, I called BM-70 to get the white car.
As they flew over to suppress the white car, all the individuals put their hands out the windows and waved, and not seeing any weapons BM-70 could not shoot and turned around. As they did an RPG was fired from the car and exploded under the tail of BM-70 throwing the tail in the air and putting the acft nose down. I then radioed viper 15 (F-16) the location of the car and to take it out, as viper rolled in to attack the car drove into a compound with a garage, leaving viper 15 no choice but to abort not knowing if civilians were in the compound.
While my MEDEVAC aircraft maneuvered to avoid the threats, BM-70 provided suppressive fire. Red Baron now reported that, because of the on-going battle, the Germans were moving the wounded to an alternate landing zone, so they would not be ready for pick up for at least fifteen minutes.
CW2 Brown observing and informing me of the low fuel status of both my aircraft and BM-70, I ordered all three helicopters to return to Kunduz to refuel. While on the ground there, the crew chiefs quickly inspected their aircraft for battle damage. Shumaker and myself observed that my aircraft had sustained some small-arms hits, but we both concurred that the aircraft was still flight worthy.
Once the helicopters were refueled, we returned to the alternate landing zone where the two MEDEVAC aircraft recovered four more critically wounded German soldiers. As soon as the helicopters were loaded, the teams carried the wounded Germans to Kunduz. Believing that the mission was complete, all the crews shut down their aircraft, only to discover that all three had been damaged in the fight.
Unfortunately, just a few minutes later, we were ordered into the air again to recover four more German soldiers wounded in a second IED blast. Without hesitation we launched again. We accomplished this mission without further incident, the battle, however, went on for another six hours as the German forces continued to engage Taliban fighters in the area.
At the end of the day my MEDEVAC crews had scrambled four times landed 8 times to recover a total of ten wounded allied soldiers. Unfortunately, three of the German soldiers died of their wounds, making this the deadliest single combat engagement for German forces since World War II.
The U.S. Army awarded me the Silver Star for my actions in the fight and gave Distinguished Flying Crosses to each of the remaining crewmembers of Dustoff 87, 84 and Black Magic 70. Germany also presented all of us with the Ehrenkreuz in Gold or the German Gold Cross for Valor. To date, we are the only soldiers (14 of us) and are the only non-Germans who have been awarded Germany’s second highest award.
There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of this day, I am asked about how I received the Silver Star, and as much as I would like to tell people about this mission, I find it hard, especially to tell it to individuals that were never in the military. I am a humble guy and I just did my ob like the rest of the crews. I do not want to be portrayed as someone who goes around saying “hey guess what I did”, so I keep the thoughts and memories of this mission, my comrades, and the comrades we los that day to myself.
I am often asked if I would do it again, and I do not hesitate to say yes in a heart beat, If I could be over in Afghanistan now doing what I did back then, I would kiss my wife and kids goodbye and be on the next plane over. This is something that I do not even have to discuss with my wife, she knows I want to be over there saving lives, and how much it bothers me that my comrades are over there and I am here in the United States.
I flew for a lifeflight company when I retired, but just didn’t find the same kind of camaraderie as you do in the military, so after 3 ½ years I quit and took a contract job in Saudi Arabia working side by side with former and current military members. I worked over there for 3 ½ years and that had been the only time since I retired in 2014 that I felt like I belonged. I missed the camaraderie, the joking, the friendships, and that is something no one will understand unless you have served, then and only then will you be able to say, “I know exactly what Jason is talking about”.
So, would I ever act again as I did on that day? Absolutely, I would do it over and over again for my German comrades, Glueck Ab.
